Mark Ruffalo Warns Fans That He's "Passing the Torch" In 'She-Hulk'

Mark Ruffalo has confirmed that his time with Marvel may be coming to a close.

Mark Ruffalo, Avengers: Infinity War — Credit: Marvel Studios

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While the actor was promoting his latest film, The Adam Project (2021) he shared some new details about his next appearance in the MCU, She-Hulk.

She-Hulk stars Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk, Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, and Tim Roth as the Abomination. Walters is a lawyer who helps defend superheroes and also is learning how to control her new powers. The show is set to be very comedic and is reported that Charlie Cox’s Daredevil will have a small role in the series.

tatiany maslany as she-hulk — Credit: Disney

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The fourth wall will be broken during the series which is something fans have seen with Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool. Surprisingly, this was first done in the She-Hulk comics long before Deadpool was created. Ruffalo’s role in the series looks like the actor will be a mentor for Walters just like how Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton was for Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop.

Ruffalo did confirm that he was indeed “passing the torch” to Walters which might mean that the actor won’t be returning after She-Hulk ends:

“Tatiana Maslany is frickin’ legendary as the She-Hulk,” he told Access. “I’m passing the banner onto her… There’s some really good, funny, cool, long, long scenes between Professor and her. We’ve never really seen the Hulk interact with people the way he does in that show. It’ll be really interesting.”

mark ruffalo as hulk (left), tatiana muslany as she-hulk (right) — Credit: Marvel

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This was said during the premiere of The Adam Project where @tatwalters Tweeted what Ruffalo said during the premiere:

MARK TALKED ABOUT TATIANA MARK TALKED ABOUT TATIANA BRUCE AND JEN ARE GONNA HAVE LONG SCENES TOGETHER OMG

MARK TALKED ABOUT TATIANA
MARK TALKED ABOUT TATIANA

BRUCE AND JEN ARE GONNA HAVE LONG SCENES TOGETHER OMG pic.twitter.com/l2Pv1St8EY

— lizzy ✇ (@tatwalters) March 1, 2022

One interesting word that Ruffalo used while describing his character is “professor” which implies that Marvel fans will be seeing more of Professor Hulk. One of the confusing things with Hulk right now is that he is seen as Professor Hulk in some parts, human form in others and his arm is somehow healed in some scenes, but not in others. Simply, fans are confused with what is happening with Bruce Banner and the Hulk. The last time fans saw Banner was in a post-credit scene for Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) where Banner had a sling for his arm but was in human form.

(L) Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and (R) Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) — Credit: Marvel Studios

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The reason why this is important is that Professor Hulk was the combination of the Hulk’s strength with Banner’s intellect. Before this, the Hulk would be a raging monster and destroy buildings more than fight his enemies. If Banner is changing back and forth from Professor Hulk, the real question is why? What benefit does Banner have to do this? Also, how his arm healed would be another question because it was heavily scarred in Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Professor Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) with the infinity gauntlet — Credit: Marvel Studios

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Hopefully, She-Hulk will answer these questions as Walters and Banner will have “long scenes” together. Due to movie rights, Hulk hasn’t had a solo movie since way back in 2008 and that was with Edward Norton. Ruffalo deserves to have his character’s story be told, so it would be good for the character to get a lot of screentime in the series.

Professor Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) giving Ant-Man some tacos — Credit: Marvel Studios

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As Marvel continues to pass the torch to newer heroes, the Avengers won’t be alone to defend the world. It is only a matter of time before we see the Young Avengers, Illuminati, Defenders, Midnight Sons, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Thunderbolts enter the MCU.

Do you think this will be the last time we will see Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

On Disney+ you can expect Moon Knight on March 30, Ms. Marvel in Summer 2022, and She-Hulk to debut this year. For movies, Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness comes out on May 6, followed by Thor: Love and Thunder on July 8, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on November 11.